US regulators drop case against JP Morgan traders

US regulators have dropped their investigation into two former JP Morgan Chase traders accused of falsifying the bank’s books to hide its $6.2bn “London whale” losses.

The Securities and Exchange Commission said in a court filing on Friday that it would end its probe into alleged mismarking by Javier Martín-Artajo and Julien Grout in 2012. The Spaniard and the French national had both worked for the bank in London with the trader dubbed the Whale.

A filing on Friday in a New York court showed that the SEC had voluntarily dismissed the action. The SEC’s decision follows that of the US Department of Justice, which said earlier this summer that it could no longer rely on the testimony of its main co-operator, the London Whale himself, Bruno Iksil.

Farhaz Khan has acted for Mr Grout since 2012, and continues to act for Mr Grout in s393 ‘Third Party’ proceedings against the FCA, led by Richard Lissack QC and with Simon Paul, of Fountain Court Chambers. Farhaz is instructed by Graham Huntley and Rory Spillman of Signature Litigation, working closely with Mr Grout’s US Counsel team, led by Ed Little and Marc Weinstein of Hughes Hubbard Reed, NY.

For external news sources see Financial Times and The New York Times.

News 21 Aug, 2017